American History Tellers - The Space Race| Photo Finish | 4

Episode Date: June 6, 2018

JFK said that nothing in the 1960s was "...more impressive to mankind, or more important for the long-range exploration of space..." than getting a man to the moon and back safely. As the Apollo 11 flight neared, the entire nation waited, enraptured. But back in the USSR, the Soviets were also making strides. Though the contest with the Soviets for technological superiority had always been a race, it was now a literal one - a U.S. manned spacecraft was about to chase down a Soviet robotic vessel.Support us by supporting our sponsors!See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wondery Plus subscribers can binge new seasons of American History Tellers early and ad-free right now. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts. Imagine it's January, 1969. You used to be a Navy man, but your time on the high seas is long gone. These days, you're a photo interpreter, or as they call it in the intelligence community, a PI. You work for the National Photographic Interpretation Center in Washington, D.C. As you sit at your small table in the pitch dark, inside a massive windowless building, you feel a bit like you're in prison. There's not a shred of light anywhere. But darkness is sort of

the point. Your job is to look at satellite photos and monitor a secret Soviet launch site behind the Iron Curtain. The photos are piling up, and you have your work cut out for you. Just as you're about to get down to business, hey, working hard or hardly working? Your co-worker looms over your desk. You tell me. I'll go with hardly working. You ignore him and focus on the task at hand. You remove a spool of film from its can, spread it out across the table, and attach it to the reel. You flip on the table light, peer through your microscope, and adjust the lenses. He doesn't take the hint. You PIs, I swear, I don't know how you do it. Slow and steady wins the race.

Photo after photo, day after day. Yeah, well, it's the job. It's grunt work. Being an analyst, now that's real work. He always reminds you that he's a CIA analyst. He reminds everyone. Mind if I take a look? He's already shoved you out of the way before you can answer the question. So this is it, huh? The Soviet launch site? Complex J, yeah, that's right. Do you even know what you're looking for? Of course. Right, right, the elusive J-Bird. He rolls his eyes and peers through your microscope. These photos, they all look the same. Like I said, that's the job. Well, I'm glad it's not mine. Hey, if you don't mind, I have work to do. He gives you a not-so-friendly pat on the back and leaves you to your business. You breathe a sigh of relief.

Finally. You readjust the lens, peer through the microscope, and wind the reel. When the next photo slides into place, your eyes go wide. There is no doubt what you're looking at. A massive rocket sitting on the Soviet launch pad. And it's not just any rocket. A rocket that's as big and powerful as the Saturn V. A rocket designed for one purpose, to put a Soviet cosmonaut

on the moon. You may not be a CIA analyst, but your grunt work has definitely paid off today. You just discovered a photo of the J-Bird. As you leap to your feet and rush to notify your supervisor, you hope it's not too late. With the rocket on the pad, there's a real possibility the Soviets are about to beat the U.S. to the moon. And considering there's a lag time between when the photo was taken and when it landed on your desk, there's a chance they already have. And Audible makes it easy to be inspired and entertained as a part of your everyday routine without needing to set aside extra time. As an Audible member, you choose one title a month to keep from their ever-growing catalog. Explore themes of friendship, loss, and hope with Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt. Find what piques your imagination.

Sign up for a free 30-day Audible trial, and your first audiobook is free. Visit audible.ca to sign up. From the team behind American History Tellers comes a new book, The Hidden History of the White House. Each chapter will bring you inside the fierce power struggles, intimate moments, and shocking scandals that shaped our nation. From the War of 1812 to Watergate. Available now wherever you get your books.

From Wondery, this is American History Tellers. Our history, your story. I'm Lindsey Graham. We're concluding our four-episode series on the space race with a look at the final leg as the Soviets and the U.S. compete to put a man on the moon. Throughout the late 1960s, CIA analysts and photo interpreters like the man in this story had been monitoring Soviet rocket facilities. Through their surveillance, they discovered the existence of the N-1 rocket. The N-1 was a heavy lift launch vehicle designed to deliver large payloads far beyond low Earth orbit, meaning, in theory, the rocket could be used to send Soviet cosmonauts to the moon. When Richard Nixon took office, U.S. officials were debating whether the

Soviets could feasibly beat the U.S. to the moon. Some believed the Soviets didn't stand a chance. Others had their doubts. One thing was clear, the race was still on. But the home stretch was in sight. And in the final leg, the Soviets and the Americans were neck and neck. This is Episode 4, Photo Finish. In 1961, John F. Kennedy stood before Congress and declared that the U.S. should commit itself to putting a man on the moon. Eight years later, Kennedy's dream would become a reality with the launch of Apollo 11. The man who would become the public face of that moment was Neil Armstrong. Armstrong had started his career as a naval aviator

before becoming a test pilot at NASA's Flight Research Center in Edwards, California. In 1966, he had served as command pilot of the Gemini 8. On that mission, Armstrong had performed the first successful docking of two vehicles in space. His fellow crew members, astronauts Edwin Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins, had equally impressive careers. Aldrin had set a record on the Gemini 12 mission for the most hours spent outside a spacecraft. Collins had set an altitude record for human flight on the Gemini 10. Now the three of them would lead the first mission to land on the moon. At a press conference in 1969, Armstrong told a reporter,

I think we're going to the moon because it's in the nature of the human being to face challenges. It's by the nature of his deep inner soul. We're required to do these things just as salmon swim upstream. The astronauts were in good hands. Gene Kranz, the flight director for Apollo 11, had a reputation for being tough as nails. Sporting a crew cut and a stern expression, he was all business. After the tragedy of the Apollo 1 fire, Kranz vowed it would never happen again. Telling his team, from this day forward, flight control would be known by two words, tough and competent. Tough means we are forever

accountable for what we do or what we fail to do. Competent means we will never take anything for granted. When you leave this meeting today, you will go to your office and the first thing you will do there is write tough and competent on your blackboards. It will never be erased. Each day when you enter the room, these words will remind you of the price paid by Grissom, White, and Chaffee. These words are the price of admission to the ranks of mission control. The plan was set. The launch of Apollo 11 would take place on July 16, 1969.

As the command module pilot, Collins would remain in orbit while Armstrong and Aldrin walked on the moon. That left one question remaining. Which astronaut would take the first step? Aldrin wanted it to be him. He was vocal about it, too, appealing to the other Apollo astronauts for support. Even his father, a powerful oil executive, made his son's case to the higher-ups at NASA. But in the end, NASA picked Armstrong. Their stated reasons were practical. Armstrong was the senior member of the team, and from where he was seated in the lunar lander, he would have a clearer path to the exit hatch. But the real reason, according to Chris Kraft, a NASA engineer, is that the quiet and

confident Armstrong was a better candidate than the assertive, ambitious Aldrin. But whatever the reason, the decision was final. Neil Armstrong would make history and become an American hero with one small step. Meanwhile, back in the USSR, the Soviets were gearing up to take a major step of their own. The CIA's discovery of the N1 rocket troubled U.S. officials. The Soviet rocket looked as big and powerful as the Saturn V, but proof of its existence presented more questions than answers. Was it a manned rocket? Were the Soviets preparing for a lunar mission?

Would they beat the U.S. to the moon? Though the answers were unclear, one thing was certain. With a rocket on the launch pad, the Soviets looked poised to make a move. And so for the U.S., the pressure was on. Unbeknownst to U.S. intelligence officials, the Soviets had already attempted an unmanned launch of the N-1 in February 1969. It ended in disaster, with the rocket crashing 183 seconds after liftoff. But the Soviets were undeterred. They tried again on July 3rd,

less than two weeks before the U.S. was set to launch Apollo 11. This time, the rocket barely got off the ground. It lifted only a few hundred feet before collapsing back onto the launch pad in flames. The failure of the N-1 rocket was a crisis for the Soviet space program. As a Soviet engineer admitted, we are desperate for success, especially now when the Americans intend in a few days to land people on the moon. If Apollo 11 succeeded, the race would be lost and the Soviets knew it. So they decided to make one last-ditch effort. They decided to send their Luna 15, an unmanned robotic vessel, to the moon to collect soil. It would not be as significant as landing humans on the moon, but if the Soviets could bring back lunar samples before Apollo 11, it would still be a considerable victory. And it

would certainly steal some of the spotlight from the U.S. And so, on July 13, just three days before Apollo 11's scheduled takeoff, the Soviets launched Luna 15 into space. Though the contest with the Soviets for technological superiority had always been a race, now it was a literal one. A U.S. manned spacecraft was about to chase down a Soviet robotic vessel, and the Luna 15 had a three-day head start. In the final days leading up to the launch of Apollo 11, the outcome of the mission was far from certain. Many Americans were beginning to wonder, could the U.S. really pull this off? The anxiety over the Apollo mission was so widespread, it reached the highest

level of American government, the office of President Nixon. Imagine it's July 1969. You're a writer, and not just any writer, you're a speechwriter for the President of the United States. You sit at your desk in front of the typewriter, carefully crafting a very important address. You stare at the clock as it ticks crafting a very important address. You stare at the clock as it ticks ever closer to your deadline. In a few days' time, Apollo 11 will blast off into space. If all goes according to plan, for the first time in history, man will walk on the moon. Your job is to write a victory speech for the president. You crack your knuckles, type the first words. My fellow Americans, you want to make sure this speech sings.

It'll be one for the history books. As you search for the right words, you swivel back and forth in your mahogany chair. You wrap your fingers on your desk. You type a few sentences, read them out loud, but they don't sound right on your tongue. You rip out the paper from the roller, wad it up in a ball, and take a shot at the wastebasket. And it banks off the rim. Frank Borman, line one.

That's former astronaut Frank Borman, commander of the Apollo 8. Put him through. Frank, how are you? Thanks for taking my call. Of course, of course. How do you like working with the White House? Oh, it's just fine. Tell the truth, Frank.

Do you miss being up there in space? I miss it every day. I'll bet. Well, what can I do for you? You're working on this moonshot speech. Yes, yeah, just wrapping it up now. What's your angle? Apollo 11 is a tremendous feat that exhibits great hope for mankind. Yeah. Listen, I don't mean to tell you how to do your job. Frank, you're the space liaison to the White House, by all means. Fine. You may want to consider an alternative posture for the president in the event of a mishap. A mishap? You talk to the White House staff on a daily basis. The word around the West Wing is that confidence in the success of Apollo 11 is riding high.

But you can tell Frank is concerned. What kind of mishap, Frank? He doesn't answer right away. Frank? I'm thinking of the widows here. When you hear those words, the gravity of the situation comes into sharp focus. These men are about to go where no man has ever gone before. If anything goes wrong, those astronauts may never make it home.

They may never see their families again. Yeah, understood, Frank. Hey, I'll send you a copy when it's done. You hang up the phone. You place your fingers over the keys and you start typing. After a while, you sit back and test the first sentence out loud.

Fate has ordained that the men who went to the moon to explore in peace will stay on the moon to rest in peace. You pray. It's a sentence President Nixon will never have to utter. The man in this story is William Sapphire, a speechwriter for President Nixon. On the advice of former astronaut Frank Borman, he wrote a backup address for the president to deliver in case the moon mission ended in tragedy. Labeled, In Event of Moon Disaster, the contingency speech praised the Apollo 11 astronauts. In their exploration, they stirred the people of the world to feel as one. In their sacrifice, they bind more tightly

the brotherhood of man. But on the morning of July 16, 1969, everything was working perfectly as the Apollo 11 lifted off. Wernher von Braun looked on from the launch control center as his Saturn V rocket made a perfect ascent into space. His life's dream was finally becoming a reality. Man was going to the moon. Apollo 11 traveled 240,000 miles in 76 hours before entering lunar orbit on July 19th. The next day, Aldrin and Armstrong left Collins in the command module and moved to the lunar craft. It was called the Eagle, but Aldrin called it something else, the weirdest-looking contraption I have ever seen. On July 20th, five days into the mission, it was time for that contraption to land on the moon.

While the Americans prepared for the lunar descent, the Soviet mission was running into a major problem. The rough, mountainous terrain of the moon made it impossible for the lunar descent, the Soviet mission was running into a major problem. The rough, mountainous terrain of the moon made it impossible for the Luna 15 to land. A new orbit had to be calculated. But that created an even bigger issue. The Soviets couldn't be sure whether Robot would touch down. NASA was worried that the Luna 15 would interfere with the American mission. There was some concern it might cause communication issues or even collide with the Eagle. Inside mission control, some 20 miles south of Houston, NASA's team of flight controllers

sat with their eyes glued to their consoles. Tensions were running high. But Gene Kranz, Apollo 11's flight director, maintained his composure. Kranz leaned into his communications panel and spoke a few words to his team. This is no bullshit.

We're going to land on the moon. We don't even think of tying this game. We think only to win. We're going to win. So let's go have at it, gang. As the descent began, everything was going as planned, and all systems were a go. But then, at 30,000 feet above the moon's surface, an alarm light flashed. Aldrin radioed in.

Program alarm. This is 1202. 1202. This alarm meant something was wrong with the flight computer. It was running out of memory to perform calculations. In mission control, Krantz remained calm. He waited for his team to analyze the situation. But the lunar craft was descending fast. Armstrong called again.

Give us a reading on the 1202 program alarm. In response, Krantz shouted into his comm system, demanding an answer from his guidance officer. Guido! The guidance officer wanted more time. Time Krantz did not have. Krantz banged his fist on the console. The guidance officer looked down at the timings of the alarms. They were only seconds apart, each one causing a reboot.

But the computer was behaving exactly as it was designed. Despite the interruptions, no critical navigation data was lost. The officer made a split-second decision. Go! Go, damn it! The Capcom relayed the message. Houston, you're a go for landing, over. As the Eagle approached the moon's surface, the alarms kept coming. At 3,000 feet over the moon, one sounded, this time a 1201, another computer issue. 1201. 1201.

Roger, 1201 alarm. And still, the answer from mission control was press on. We're go, same tide, we're go. Just over 1,000 feet above the moon's surface, the Eagle began its final descent. As the flames thrust downward, controlling the rate of descent, Armstrong and Aldrin realized that they had another problem on their hands. They had overshot the landing zone. Armstrong overrode the computer and switched to manual control.

He was now landing the craft by himself. But the terrain was rocky, filled with boulders and craters. There wasn't a smooth surface anywhere in sight. And to make matters worse, the Eagle was low on fuel. If the Eagle ran out of gas, there was no escape plan. Armstrong and Aldrin would be on their own, left to die in space. With 60 seconds of fuel remaining, Armstrong struggled to find a safe landing spot. Krantz told his CAPCOM, you better remind them there ain't no damn gas stations on the moon.

The clock was ticking. Over the comm system, the CAPCOM announced, and Aldrin called out, the low fuel light. Armstrong was out of time. It was now or never. In Houston, they waited in silence as the Eagle went in for touchdown. At 318 Houston time, Armstrong's voice cut through the silence in the control room.

Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed. Roger, Tranquility. We copy you on the ground. You got a bunch of guys about to turn blue. We're breathing again. Thanks a lot. A few hours later, Armstrong would open the hatch of the lunar module. As he backed out, a small camera connected to the Eagle would broadcast live to television screens all across the world. 600 million people would watch in amazement as Neil Armstrong climbed down the ladder and placed a foot on the moon.

Dracula, the ancient vampire who terrorizes Victorian London. Blood and garlic, bats and crucifixes, even if you haven't read the book, you think you know the story. One of the incredible things about Dracula is that not only is it this wonderful snapshot of the 19th century, but it also has so much resonance today. The vampire doesn't cast a reflection in a mirror. So when we look in the mirror, the only thing we see is our own monstrous abilities. From the host and producer of American History Tellers and History Daily comes the new podcast, The Real History of Dracula.

We'll reveal how author Bram Stoker raided ancient folklore, exploited Victorian fears around sex, science, and religion, and how even today we remain enthralled to his strange creatures of the night. You can binge all episodes of The Real History of Dracula exclusively with Wondery+. Join Wondery+, and The Wondery App, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. Are you in trouble with the law? Need a lawyer who will fight like hell to keep you out of jail? We defend and we fight just like you'd want your own children defended.

Whether you're facing a drug charge, caught up on a murder rap, accused of committing war crimes, look no further than Paul Bergeron. All the big guys go to Bergeron because he gets everybody off. You name it, Paul can do it. Need to launder some money? Broker a deal with a drug cartel? Take out a witness? From Wondery, the makers of Dr. Death and Over My Dead Body, comes a new series about a lawyer who broke all the rules. Isn't it funny how witnesses disappear or how evidence doesn't show up or somebody doesn't testify correctly? In order to win at all costs.

If Paul asked you to do something, it wasn't a request. It was an order. I'm your host, Brandon James Jenkins. Follow Criminal Attorney on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to Criminal Attorney early and ad-free right now by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts. Imagine it's late spring in 1969. Your brother has invited you down for a little family get together on Cape Cod. You're surprised. He's been so busy lately. You haven't seen him or the kids in months. He's about to head to Florida for work, and this might be the last time you're able to get together for a good long while.

You help your brother clear the table. Dinner was fabulous, thank you. Don't thank me, thank Janet. That's all her handiwork. Janet's outside in the backyard playing with the kids. As you finish clearing off the table, you notice your brother has a gleam in his eye. He's almost smirking. What's so funny?

Nothing. I just had a thought. Uh-oh, what is it? How about once the kids are asleep, you and I play a game for old time's sake? Sure, why not? He's all smiles. But for you, this is serious business.

Your brother wins at everything. But not tonight. Tonight, he's all smiles. But for you, this is serious business. Your brother wins at everything. But not tonight. Tonight he's going down. Your brother calls out the back door. Hey, Janet, can you put the kids to bed? Dean and I are going to play a game. You don't even have to ask what game it is. You already know. It's risk. Once the kids are asleep, you and your brother sit across from each other at the kitchen table. You open the box and spread out the board. You count out your pieces, 40 infantry each. You shuffle the cards, divide them into three piles, and take your pick. Just as you're about to start placing the infantry on your territories, you notice something.

Normally, your brother has that serious expression on his face, but when you look up, he's still smiling, still has that gleam in his eye. Something on your mind? Actually, yes. What is it? You know I'm about to go on that big trip, right? Trip, that's one way to put it. Well, I'd like your opinion about something. Your brother jots down a few words on a notepad. He tears off the paper and slides it across the table. What do you think of this? You take the slip of paper in your hands and you read the words out loud. One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.

Well, what do you think? You can't help yourself. Now there's a big smile stretched across your face too. Your response is simple. Fabulous. The man in that story is Dean Armstrong. His brother is, of course, Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon. Neil maintained he made up that legendary phrase on his flight to the moon.

Years later, after his brother's death, Dean told his version of the story. And we may never know which version is the truth, nor do we know who won the game of Risk that night, but this much is certain. When Neil Armstrong took his first lunar step and spoke those timeless words, the world was captivated. In Houston, NASA erupted with cheers. Even the Soviet viewing room applauded wildly. Soviet cosmonaut Alexei Leonov later wrote of that night, Everyone forgot that we were all citizens of different countries on Earth. But unfortunately for the Soviets, their celebration over space was about to come to an end.

Hours after Armstrong and Aldrin's walk on the moon, the Luna 15 crashed into the lunar surface at almost 300 miles per hour. The probe shattered into pieces, and with it, the Soviets' dreams of winning the space race. Ironically, the probe collided into an area known as the Sea of Cries. But back on Earth, Americans were celebrating. As he watched the moon landing on a TV monitor, von Braun was speechless. His vision to put a man on the moon, spurred by the tenacity of Sergei Karelov and the leadership of Kennedy, had finally come to fruition. Armstrong and Aldrin spent 21 hours and 36 minutes on the moon's surface.

During that time, they collected samples and took photographs. They planted an American flag, a patch honoring the Apollo 1, and a plaque. It reads, Here men from the planet Earth first set upon the moon, July 1969 AD. We came in peace for all mankind. They also received the first trans-lunar phone call in recorded history. The man on the other end of the line was President Nixon. When the Eagle landed on the moon, Nixon was in the White House, sitting with Chief of Staff Robert Haldeman and astronaut Frank Borman. As Armstrong stepped onto the lunar surface, Nixon clapped his hands in delight and spoke a single word, hooray.

From the Oval Office, Nixon told the astronauts, Hello Neil and Buzz, I'm talking to you by telephone from the Oval Room at the White House, and this certainly has to be the most historic telephone call ever made from the White House. I just can't tell you how proud we all are of what you have done. And as you talk to us from the sea of tranquility, it inspires us to redouble our efforts to bring peace and tranquility to Earth. For one priceless moment in the whole history of man, all the people on this earth are truly one. One in their pride in what you have done,

and one in our prayers that you will return safely to Earth. The moon landing was a massive boost to U.S. prestige in the world. In Nixon's mind, U.S. leadership in space was part of U.S. prestige in the world. In Nixon's mind, U.S. leadership in space was part of U.S. leadership in global diplomacy. Perhaps this victory could at last bring peace. While Armstrong and Aldrin were talking to the president, Collins continued to orbit the moon alone. Mission Control said,

Not since Adam has any human known such solitude as Mike Collins is experiencing during each lunar revolution when he's behind the moon with no one to talk to except his tape recorder? After 22 hours of orbiting the moon alone, Collins would finally get some company when Armstrong and Aldrin rejoined him for the journey home. On July 24, 1969, Apollo 11 splashed down in the Pacific Ocean, 13 miles from the recovery ship. President Nixon flew to the Pacific and greeted the astronauts on board. America was waiting to give Armstrong, Aldrin, and Collins a hero's welcome. But the astronauts would have to deal

with a little unpleasantness first. 21 days of medical isolation. For three weeks, they sat in quarantine at Ellington Air Base, unable to see their families except through a window. At the time, no one knew how exposure to space would affect human beings. There were concerns the astronauts might fall ill or bring back with them unknown contagions. But the 21 days was a small price to pay. On the other side of quarantine, there was something special waiting for them. A massive celebration, done in true American fashion, with fireworks and confetti. Imagine it's August 1969.

You and your boyfriend stand on a crowded street corner in the financial district in New York City. There's so much paper in the air it looks like a snowstorm, and the streets are more packed than the subway at rush hour. It's so loud you can barely hear yourself think. You'd rather be inside a museum or uptown seeing a Broadway musical. But your boyfriend is on cloud nine. He pops a bottle of champagne. To Apollo 11! Isn't this amazing? Sure is. The Times says millions of people are going to be watching from all over the world. Wow. You and your boyfriend live upstate,

but he dragged you all the way down to the Big Apple for the ticker tape parade celebrating Apollo 11. I hope I get a good look at Neil Armstrong. Me too. Truthfully, you don't really care. But your boyfriend loves this space stuff, so you're trying. You wish he cared more about the stuff you care about, like art and politics and the fact that American troops are dying every day in Vietnam. But you decide to let it go. This is a big day for him, and you don't want to spoil the fun. Honey, look! Your boyfriend points to the big board hanging in front of the New York Stock Exchange building just down the block. Normally,

it displays stock prices, but today it has an altogether different message. See, honey? Astronauts Armstrong, Aldrin, and Collins so proudly we hail you. You almost roll your eyes, but you stop yourself. Your boyfriend notices. What? Don't you think this is all a little over the top? Over the top? The parade, the champagne, the party. Oh, come on, it's fun! I'm glad you're having fun, and I'm glad everyone is excited.

Just don't forget, things are really bad in our country right now. Your boyfriend doesn't respond. He just stares at you. You can't stand it when he does that. Your face turns bright red, but just as you're about to give him a piece of your mind, Hey, here they come! Your boyfriend hands you the bottle of champagne as he pumps his fist in the air like he just scored the winning touchdown at the Super Bowl. You want to make him understand how the space race is wasting money

that could be used to help starving Americans. That while the U.S. government is landing on the moon, innocent people are dying by the thousands in Southeast Asia. But it's too loud for an argument, and there's too much going on. You look at the jubilation around you. You look at your boyfriend's face and the bottle in your hand. Ah, what the hell. You take a big swig.

After the parade, the New York Times wrote, With peeling bells, popping champagne corks, cheers, prayers, and firecrackers, a jubilant nation celebrated the safe return of the Apollo 11 astronauts. But not all Americans shared in the jubilation. One New York City government worker told reporters, Apollo 11 is totally unrelated to the issues in the United States. It doesn't do anything to help the poor. Some people refused to believe that the lunar landing was real at all. The New York Times quoted one skeptic in Wisconsin who claimed,

this is the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on mankind. These guys were in Nevada the whole time and never more than 30 feet off the ground. Another in Chicago commented, these guys never walked on the moon. It was one of those Hollywood tricks. But for the majority of Americans, Apollo 11 was a triumph. Later that year, the astronauts would receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom. With Apollo 11, the race to the moon was over. The U.S. had finally taken the lead from the Soviets, and it did not look like the Americans could lose their advantage in space. But on the heels of a U.S. victory,

President Nixon felt it was time to run in a new direction. In a quiet suburb, a community is shattered by the death of a beloved wife and mother. But this tragic loss of life quickly turns into something even darker. Her husband had tried to hire a hitman on the dark web to kill her. And she wasn't the only target. Because buried in the depths of the internet is The Kill List, a cache of chilling documents containing names, photos, addresses, and specific instructions for people's murders. This podcast is the true story of how I ended up in a race against time

to warn those whose lives were in danger. And it turns out, convincing a total stranger someone wants them dead is not easy. Follow Kill List on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to Kill List and more Exhibit C true crime shows like Morbid early and ad-free right now by joining Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to Kill List and more Exhibit C True Crime shows like Morbid early and ad-free right now by joining Wondery Plus. Check out Exhibit C in the Wondery app for all your true crime listening. In November 1991, media tycoon Robert Maxwell mysteriously vanished from his luxury yacht in the Canary Islands. But it wasn't just his body that would come to the surface in the days that followed. It soon emerged that Robert's business was on the brink of collapse, and behind his facade of wealth and success was a litany of bad investments, mounting debt,

and multi-million dollar fraud. Hi, I'm Lindsey Graham, the host of Wondery Show Business Movers. We tell the true stories of business leaders who risked it all, the critical moments that defined their journey, and the ideas that transform the way we live our lives. In our latest series, a young refugee fleeing the Nazis arrives in Britain determined to make something of his life. Taking the name Robert Maxwell, he builds a publishing and newspaper empire that spans the globe.

But ambition eventually curdles into desperation, and Robert's determination to succeed turns into a willingness to do anything to get ahead. Follow Business Movers wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen ad-free on the Amazon Music or Wondery app. Beyond Apollo 11, NASA had big plans for the future. Developing space stations, taking more missions to the moon, and even manning a flight to Mars. And they were going to use the energy of America's jubilation to get them there. But the sense of national pride over the launch of Apollo 11 was fleeting.

Even von Braun seemed to feel a bit let down. He said, we have run out of moons. For many Americans, the competition with the Soviets was just a sideshow. The space race had taken the focus away from more important issues like the war in Vietnam and civil rights. The violence of the late 60s, with the assassinations of President Kennedy, his brother Bobby Kennedy, and civil rights leaders Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X had shocked many Americans. Pouring money into space exploration suddenly seemed less important than trying to

fix the problems at home. Over time, NASA's budget began to shrink. Nixon promised the country that future space exploration would have to adjust to remain sustainable. We must think of space as part of a continuing process, not as a series of separate leaps, each requiring a massive concentration of energy. Space expenditures must take their proper place within a rigorous system of national priorities. So Nixon deprioritized the space program, shuttered Apollo, and ended plans for future human spaceflight beyond low EarthEarth orbit. And although he approved the creation of the Space Shuttle program, he did not establish a long-term strategy

for its implementation. Nixon's space doctrine was a big change from Kennedy and Johnson's more ambitious policies, but it did carry forward their hopes for cooperation in space with the Soviets. Like Eisenhower before them, Johnson and Kennedy had sought to collaborate with the Soviets on space exploration. But the Soviets largely rejected these overtures. Still, Nixon would continue to make moves to increase international cooperation. A 1970 report compiled by the Nixon administration stated, Cooperation with the Soviet Union in space matters is desirable. Such cooperation, if it involved substantive scientific and technical content, could be useful intrinsically,

as well as from the viewpoint of raising the level of political confidence between ourselves and the Soviets and of easing international tensions. With this shift from competition to cooperation, it was clear that the space race had come to an end. The space age was entering the era of detente. Imagine it's July 30th, 1971. You're in your manned rover and you're driving fast. Well, not that fast, but it sure beats walking.

John Glenn was the first American astronaut to orbit the Earth. Neil Armstrong, the first astronaut to walk on the moon. But you just accomplished a big first in space of your own, and you're very proud of it. You're the self-proclaimed first licensed driver on the moon. This is really a rock and roll ride, isn't it? I've never been on a ride like this before. Oh boy. I'm glad they got this great suspension system on this thing. The astronaut's life has been good to you. Several years back, you flew around the Earth nearly seven times on board Gemini 8. Then you were the command pilot for Apollo 9. When NASA tapped you to take the lead on Apollo 15, you were thrilled.

But now, sadly, it's nearly time to go home. You and fellow astronaut James Irwin have been on the moon for three days, but it seems there's never enough time up here. You drive the rover out a little bit so that its TV cameras can catch the launch of the lunar module from the moon's surface and back to Earth. But you and Irwin have no intention of leaving. Not yet. There's one more task left, a task the men on the ground in Houston know nothing about. Dave, give me a call on your present activity. Erwin, just cleaning up the back of the rover here a little, Joe.

Okay. And, Dave, we do not have our TV yet. You might want to check TV remote. Okay, Phil. But you're not cleaning up the rover at all, and you don't want the cameras rolling yet either. While the rover's TV camera is still down, you sneak several yards away to perform your task. You don't have much time, so you'll have to make quick work of it. Once you're a safe distance off, about 20 feet north of the rover,

you reach into the large pocket of your spacesuit and pull out two items, a small plaque and a tiny aluminum object a little over three inches high. You bend down and place both items firmly in the moon's dust. You take a moment to consider the gravity of this moment, or lack thereof. As you stand on the lunar surface, hundreds of thousands of miles from planet Earth, you can hardly comprehend the true immensity of it all, just how small you really are. You close your eyes and say a quick prayer of thanks.

All right. Okay. You get the TV camera going and the antenna aligned, then make the short moonwalk back to base and prepare for the flight home. As the lunar module lifts off, you watch out the window as the moon's rocky surface slowly fades away. You are a lucky man. Not everyone was. The astronaut in that story was Colonel David Scott. Prior to the launch of Apollo 15, Scott and a Belgian artist named Paul Van Huydonk came up with a bold idea to put a

piece of art on the moon. Van Huoudonck made the figurine, which he called the Fallen Astronaut. Scott snuck the small sculpture and a commemorative plaque on board Apollo 15 in his pocket. The plaque commemorated astronauts, including eight of Scott's friends, who are known to have died in the space race, not just American astronauts, Soviet cosmonauts as well. It was a symbolic gesture, but it demonstrated that perhaps the tensions between the Soviet and American space programs were subsiding. Perhaps those tensions were even giving way to camaraderie. To the men and women who traveled to space, they were all part of a fellowship that extended beyond the boundaries

of nation-states. Just a few years later, the space race would officially come to an end through another act of reconciliation, a galactic handshake. In July 1975, three astronauts on an Apollo spacecraft linked up with two cosmonauts in a Soyuz capsule. When the hatch connecting the two ships opened, Commander Thomas Stafford greeted cosmonaut Alexei Leonov with a friendly handshake. Stafford expressed hope that our joint work in space serves for the benefit of all countries and peoples on the Earth.

The commanders exchanged kind words and gifts. They signed international documents. They even shared a meal. A few hours later, the astronauts said their goodbyes, returned to their ships, and went their separate ways. The Apollo-Soyuz test project was the first joint space flight between the Americans and the Soviets. After the fall of the Soviet Union, space cooperation between the two countries significantly increased, and to this day, the International Space Station contains

both Russian and American astronauts. The space race started with a sprint to track down von Braun, climaxed with a race to the moon, and ended with a friendly embrace. It took decades and cost billions of dollars and the lives of many brave souls. But in its infancy, space exploration was nothing more than a dream, and not just the dream of one person, the dreams of multitudes, from von Braun to Karloff to Kennedy and Johnson and millions of Americans and Soviets in between. In the 1950s, 60s, and 70s, the dream of space fostered fierce competition.

But in the end, it also helped two superpowers transcend their rivalry, if only for a moment. In a story about space, it seems only fitting to give the last word to the brave man who took the first step. In 2010, Neil Armstrong wrote, Some question why Americans should return to the moon. After all, they say, we have already been there. I find that mystifying. It would be as if 16th century monarchs proclaimed that we do not need to go to the New World.

We have already been there. Or as if President Thomas Jefferson announced in 1803 that Americans need not go west of the Mississippi. The Lewis and Clark expedition has already been there. Americans have visited and examined six locations on Luna, varying in size from a suburban lot to a small township. That leaves more than 14 million square miles yet to explore. From Wondery, this is Episode 4 of The Space Race from American History Tellers.

On the next episode, a special crossover episode with Wondery's hit podcast Business Wars that looks at one of the greatest business rivalries in American history, William Randolph Hearst versus Joseph Pulitzer. If you like American History Tellers, you can binge all episodes early and ad-free right now by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts. Prime members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music. And before you go, tell us about yourself by filling out a short survey at wondery.com slash survey. American History Tellers is hosted, sound designed, and edited by me, Lindsey Graham, for Airship. Additional production assistance by Derek Behrens.

This episode is written by Stephen Walters, edited and produced by Jenny Lauer, produced by George Lavender. Executive producers are Marsha Louis and Hernán López from Wondery. I'm Tristan Redmond, and as a journalist, I've never believed in ghosts. But when I discovered that my wife's great-grandmother was murdered in the house next door to where I grew up, I started wondering about the inexplicable things that happened in my childhood bedroom. When I tried to find out more, I discovered that someone who slept in my room after me, someone I'd never met, was visited by the ghost of a faceless woman. So I started digging into the murder in my wife's family,

and I unearthed family secrets nobody could have imagined. Ghost Story won Best Documentary Podcast at the 2024 Ambees and is a Best True Crime Nominee at the British Podcast Awards 2024. Ghost Story is now the first ever Apple Podcast Series Essential. Each month, Apple Podcast editors spotlight one series that has captivated listeners with masterful storytelling, creative excellence, and a unique creative voice and vision. To recognize Ghost Story being chosen as the first series essential, Wondery has made it ad-free for a limited time only on Apple Podcasts. If you haven't listened yet, head over to Apple Podcasts to hear for yourself.